For computing devices employing a WPAN technology, it is possible to communicate with other devices in a local area, provided such devices are similarly enabled for WPAN communication. In order for devices to communicate with each other within a WPAN, it is necessary to form a connection between the devices, so that they recognize each other.
There are many different varieties of devices that are enabled for communication in a WPAN environment. Some such devices are sophisticated enough to be able to initiate formation of a connection with another device in the WPAN, while other devices are not. Devices that can initiate formation of a connection will generally maintain a list of devices with which a connection has been formed. In order to add a new device to the list of connected devices, it is necessary to search the WPAN area to find all “discoverable” devices, i.e. those devices with which the searching device can be connected for communication within the WPAN. In a densely populated WPAN, a large number of devices may be discovered in the search. In existing WPAN technologies, when searching for discoverable devices, the searching device will present a list of all discovered devices to the user so that the user can select one device for connecting with the searching device. The list presented to the user is ordered according to the time at which a response was received, with the device that first responded to the search being listed first in the list of discovered devices.
Once all discoverable devices in the WPAN area have responded to the search and are listed in the discovered device list, the searching device then communicates with each device in sequence to determine the “friendly name” of the device. The friendly name of the device may be a name given to that device by its user, such as “Fred's laptop”, “Sarah's headset” or “Jack's cell phone”. The friendly name of the device is often the only way that a user can recognize which device among the many listed is the one that the user wants to connect his or her device with. Obtaining the friendly name of each device can take a few seconds, so it can take some time to retrieve all of the friendly names so that a user can select the correct device with which to initiate formation of a connection.
The described embodiments attempt to address or ameliorate one or more shortcomings or disadvantages associated with existing WPAN technologies, or to at least provide a useful alternative thereto.